The Rights of Entrepreneurs as a Social Justice Issue

The Institute for Justice has been doing great work researching the unjust restrictions on small entrepreneurs and advocating for their removal. The degree to which governments at all levels restrict the activity of small entrepreneurs in their efforts to start new businesses should be seen as a major scandal. The IJ’s most recent study on restrictive licensing laws has received considerable well deserved attention; it is clear that established interests often use licensing and other restrictive regulations to protect their own position — at the cost of enterprising individuals being thwarted in their attempt to build businesses. We used an I.J study for a recent CFE article on the absurd restrictions on business formation (and job creation) enforced by the City of Los Angeles.